The Evolution of Law in the United States

Laws govern our actions everyday: wearing seatbelts, driving on the right side of the road, not
driving until you’re old enough to have earned your license, stopping at stop signs and red lights
—all are example of laws. Laws are rules established by a governing body to maintain a
common order. Every organization has rules or procedures that they follow—businesses, cities,
states, and nations. For instance, in some cities and towns, curfews are made into laws. Most
curfew laws or ordinances state that people under a certain age often seventeen must be home
by a certain time. Those who violate these rules may receive a consequence. Countries or
organizations without some form of laws quickly devolve into chaos.
Laws derive from varying sources—some are modeled after Roman laws, others after religious
canon. Most of the laws that govern the people in the United States are derived from English
Common Law, our nation’s founding documents, and laws created by the US government’s
three branches—the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial.

English Common Law is the law system in which judges preside over courts and make
decisions based on the facts brought before them. The decisions of the judges are influenced by
their knowledge of judicial law and any past cases that the courts had heard before. This idea of
judges basing their decisions on cases from the past has become a major foundation of US law
and is called stare decisis—the act of following what has already been decided. Judges base
their decisions on the decisions of other court judges, building a foundation that all courts in the
jurisdiction or court system work with. Before England adopted a centralized system of law,
different regions of the country all operated under their own laws. Around 1100 AD, court cases
throughout England began being tried in the King’s Court, rather than the local courts, and a
body of court decisions like the stare decisis began to form in England. This was the beginning
of English Common Law, and this model was eventually adopted by the United States.

The idea of stare decisis is still in action today. For example, if you didn’t believe curfews were
legal you could take the matter to a court. Once everyone presented their cases the judge would
make a decision based on the information he was given and based on stare decisis—decisions
other judges
The idea of stare decisis is still in action today. For example, if you didn’t believe curfews were
legal you could take the matter to a court. Once everyone presented their cases the judge would
make a decision based on the information he was given and based on stare decisis—decisions
other judges had made on similar subjects. He may rule that previous court decisions make it
illegal for the jurisdiction theareaoverwhichajudgeserves to regulate a person’s movements if
that person was behaving appropriately and not breaking any other laws. He may determine
that previous court decisions support the claim that a curfew was legal as they gave the right to
maintain a peaceful environment to the police in order to promote the good of the entire
neighborhood—even if it means you and your friends can’t hang out at the ball court until two in
the morning.
The judge basing his decision on past decisions is an example of stare decisis. Stare decisis is
not infallible; courts may make unwise decisions based on previous rulings. To change a ruling,
other courts must then rule the decision as unconstitutional—or in direct violation of the
meaning behind the US Constitution, the nation’s most important founding document and what
the laws of the United States are built upon.

If the judge in your curfew case ruled against you saying the curfew was legal, you could appeal
to a higher court. Once there, you could claim the curfew law infringed on your right to freedom.
If the court agreed with you, the curfew would be deemed unconstitutional, and that it therefore
did violate your rights as created by the US Constitution.

Laws are not always right; many laws either have been or are inappropriate, uninformed, or
without cause.

For example, one law in Houma, Louisiana states that it’s illegal to give someone a haircut on
Sundays, Mondays, or holidays. In another state, it is illegal to spit on the sidewalks—and the
same is true for many
towns. One of the biggest issues facing many cities now is whether to pass ordinances banning
smoking in outdoor public areas. Our laws will continue to change as the people charged with
writing them change.

Every state in the United States, with the exception of Louisiana, has statutes and precepts that
are modeled after, or come directly from, English Common Law. However, many laws that were
common to the English system were deemed unacceptable by the founders of the United States
for a variety of reasons. One such law was the English Bill of Attainder process, in which people
could be punished for crimes without ever having gone to trial.